stone

[ stohn ]

/ stoʊn /

noun, plural stones for 1–5, 7–19, stone for 6.

the hard substance, formed of mineral matter, of which rocks consist.

a rock or particular piece or kind of rock, as a boulder or piece of agate.

a piece of rock quarried and worked into a specific size and shape for a particular purpose: paving stone; building stone.

a small piece of rock, as a pebble.

precious stone.

Chiefly British. one of various units of weight, especially the British unit equivalent to 14 pounds (6.4 kg).

something resembling a small piece of rock in size, shape, or hardness.

any small, hard seed, as of a date; pit.

Botany. the hard endocarp of a drupe, as of a peach.

Pathology.

a calculous concretion in the body, as in the kidney, gallbladder, or urinary bladder.
a disease arising from such a concretion.

a gravestone or tombstone.

a grindstone.

a millstone.

a hailstone.

Building Trades. any of various artificial materials imitating cut stone or rubble.

Printing. a table with a smooth surface, formerly made of stone, on which page forms are composed.

(in lithography) any surface on which an artist draws or etches a picture or design from which a lithograph is made.

a playing piece in the game of dominoes, checkers, or backgammon.

Usually stones. testes.

adjective

made of or pertaining to stone.

made of stoneware: a stone mug or bottle.

stonelike; stony; obdurate: a stone killer; stone strength.

adverb

completely; totally (usually used in combination): stone cold.

verb (used with object), stoned, ston·ing.

to throw stones at; drive by pelting with stones.

to put to death by pelting with stones.

to provide, fit, pave, line, face or fortify with stones.

to rub (something) with or on a stone, as to sharpen, polish, or smooth.

to remove stones from, as fruit.

Obsolete. to make insensitive or unfeeling.

Idioms for stone

cast the first stone, to be the first to condemn or blame a wrongdoer; be hasty in one's judgment: What right has she to cast the first stone?

leave no stone unturned, to exhaust every possibility in attempting to achieve one's goal; spare no effort: We will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to find the culprit.

Origin of stone

before 900; (noun) Middle English stan, sto(o)n, Old English stān; cognate with Dutch steen, German Stein, Old Norse steinn, Gothic stains; akin to Greek stī́a pebble, Latin stīria icicle; (v.) Middle English stanen, stonen, derivative of the noun; (adj. and adv.) Middle English, derivative of the noun

OTHER WORDS FROM stone

ston·a·ble, stone·a·ble, adjective stone·less, adjective stone·less·ness, noun stone·like, adjective

un·ston·a·ble, adjective un·stone·a·ble, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH stone

boulder cobblestone granule pebble rock stone

Words nearby stone

stomodaeum, stomodeum, stomp, stomper, stompie, stone, stone age, stone axe, stone bass, stone boiling, stone bramble

Example sentences from the Web for stones

Sticks and stones may break my bones / but chains and whips excite me.

Whip It: Secrets of a Dominatrix |Justin Jones |November 25, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The stones are flat tables (once of actual stone, but now usually of steel) on which printers do much of their work.

The Stacks: H.L. Mencken on the 1904 Baltimore Fire |H.L. Mencken |October 4, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
An angry mob brandishing machetes, stones, and knives lashed out.

The Fear That Killed Eight Ebola Workers |Abby Haglage |September 20, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
O daughter of Babylon… Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

Up to a Point: Shrugging Our Way Back to War in Iraq |P. J. O’Rourke |August 16, 2014 |DAILY BEAST

Sticks and stones may break your bones but, as some University of Oregon campus cops learned recently, names can prompt a lawsuit.

The First Amendment Works, But Does it Work Blue? |Kevin Bleyer |July 19, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Soon the crashing of glass was heard, as stones were hurled at the dwellings of known Catholics.

Orange and Green |G. A. Henty
He made as great an outcry about Sophie's going as he had about losing his stones.

The Black Opal |Katharine Susannah Prichard
They had no weapons, but there were plenty of stones, and stones might answer.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Complete |Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
And the doctrines of the Church are but as the stones in a building, the letters of an alphabet, or the words of a language.

Is Life Worth Living? |William Hurrell Mallock
He made his famous escape in Toxley Wood, close by, and to this day the place is marked with three stones.

Set in Silver |Charles Norris Williamson and Alice Muriel Williamson

British Dictionary definitions for stones (1 of 3)

Stones

/ (stəʊnz) /

pl n

the. See Rolling Stones

British Dictionary definitions for stones (2 of 3)

Stone

/ (stəʊn) /

noun

Oliver. born 1946, US film director and screenwriter: his films include Platoon (1986), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), JFK (1991), Nixon (1995), Alexander (2004), and World Trade Center (2006)

Sharon. born 1958, US film actress: her films include Basic Instinct (1991), Casino (1995), and Cold Creek Manor (2003)

British Dictionary definitions for stones (3 of 3)

stone

/ (stəʊn) /

noun

the hard compact nonmetallic material of which rocks are made Related adjective: lithic

a small lump of rock; pebble

jewellery short for gemstone

a piece of rock designed or shaped for some particular purpose
(in combination)gravestone; millstone

something that resembles a stone
(in combination)hailstone

the woody central part of such fruits as the peach and plum, that contains the seed; endocarp

any similar hard part of a fruit, such as the stony seed of a date

plural stone British a unit of weight, used esp to express human body weight, equal to 14 pounds or 6.350 kilograms

Also called: granite the rounded heavy mass of granite or iron used in the game of curling

pathol a nontechnical name for calculus

printing a table with a very flat iron or stone surface upon which hot-metal pages are composed into formes; imposition table

rare (in certain games) a piece or man

any of various dull grey colours
(as adjective)stone paint

(modifier) relating to or made of stone a stone house

(modifier) made of stoneware a stone jar

cast a stone at cast aspersions upon

heart of stone an obdurate or unemotional nature

leave no stone unturned to do everything possible to achieve an end

adverb

(in combination) completely stone-cold; stone-dead

verb (tr)

to throw stones at, esp to kill

to remove the stones from

to furnish or provide with stones

stone the crows British and Australian slang an expression of surprise, dismay, etc

Derived forms of stone

stonable or stoneable, adjective stoneless, adjective stonelessness, noun stonelike, adjective

Word Origin for stone

Old English stān; related to Old Saxon stēn, German Stein, Old Norse steinn, Gothic stains, Greek stion pebble

Medical definitions for stones

stone

[ stōn ]

n.

calculus

Scientific definitions for stones

stone

[ stōn ]

Rock, especially when used in construction.

The hard, woody inner layer (the endocarp) of a drupe such as a cherry or peach. Not in scientific use.

See calculus.

Idioms and Phrases with stones

stone

In addition to the idioms beginning with stone

stone cold
stone deaf

also see:

cast in stone
cast the first stone
flat (stone) broke
heart of stone
leave no stone unturned
rolling stone gathers no moss
run into a stone wall

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

stone